


Kaladin the Paladin

by foolhardy



Category: Stormlight Archive - Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Elhokar is stalked by Lie-spren, Elhokar picks out Kaladin in Book One, Elhokar trys, Gen, One Shot, for now, what if
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-19
Updated: 2016-08-19
Packaged: 2018-08-09 17:00:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7810030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foolhardy/pseuds/foolhardy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stalked by figures no one else sees Elhokar is desperate. A chance meeting in a busy market changes the course of the Vengeance War irrevocably.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kaladin the Paladin

**Author's Note:**

> For now a one shot, feel free to borrow, spinoff etc.

King Elhokar may not have been a wise man or a clever one, he wasn't uncannily perceptive or bright, he had never been very charismatic or even very well spoken, he was however a thoughtful man.

The slave boy was called Kaladin. He had heard the soldier call the boy Lordling, seen the boy shrug off the mockery and seen his defiance. That defiance had been far more than a fire it was a storm, irresistible and destructive.

Elhokar was fascinated and furious why could a slave boy summon more spine than a king. Why could Kaladin defy him? He was King! And yet, he was a failure. Jassnah was better suited to politicking and leading. He was a fool, he would be honest with himself about that. He trusted too easily and too hesitantly. He forged ahead when he had the wrong advice and held back when he was given the correct advice. He only ever knew what to do in hindsight.

So even though Elhokar had decided on what he had to do he still doubted. And doubt was his greatest weakness.

His guard captain escorted the wretch in. Elhokar's doubts redoubled their efforts. But he had proof now. He was sure.

Before his guard captain had knocked, when Kaladin was being escorted down the corridor towards Elhokar's receiving chamber, the shadows had receded. And now they were gone. Elhokar felt his spine curve just a little as relief hit him. It wasn't just in his head. He was sure. There really were shadows watching him! Alarm coiled on the edges of his consciousness. No-one would believe him. They already thought him a paranoid fool.

His Captain of Guard - one of his Uncle's senior officers - roused his attention. Elhokar stirred himself and dismissed the reluctant man - Elhokar was perfectly capable of fending off a slave even a shash branded one and he was in his shard plate, really the man was almost insubordinate, no doubt influence of his uncle.

The slave boy - Kaladin - watched him with black eyes. Elhokar stared back. He had not truly believed that he was right and now he was unsure if his plan was really rational. He grit his teeth against the plummeting sensation in his gut and met the storms eye.

"Your name is Kaladin." The slave eyed him silently for a long moment his voice when he eventually spoke was coarse but sounded as if it must have once been strong and smooth. Like worn and tattered silk. His agreement was brusque and monosyllabic. The king braced himself, but he knew what he was going to say, he had planned. "Have you ever seen spren, strange spren, ones that," Elhokar took a fortifying breath, "that don't act as they should?"

The slave's reaction was astonishing. He stood to his full Alethi height. Elhokar flinched at the sudden fury in the man's face and corded muscles. He struggled to keep his face calm as the slave stepped a single ominous pace forwards. "What do you know." It wasn't a question. Not remotely. No one had spoken to Elhokar in such a way in ten years. His father had sounded like that, uncompromising and resolute.

"There are spren, they follow me." Elhokar choked out. The slave frowned his gaze scanning the room seriously focusing on random points around it. He doesn't believe me, Elhokar squirmed. Storms not even a slave will believe me.

"What do they look like, your majesty?" His tone was still measured, his posture still hostile, but he wasn't dismissing Elhokar out of hand!

"Black shadows." He practically gasped. "With... strange designs above them." Kaladin glanced to his left and asked if Elhokar saw any red lightning or eyes. Elhokar paled, "only once, it was different, small." How did this slave know any of this?

"The ones that watch you, they are man shaped, with criptic patterns where heads would be?" Elhokar nodded frantically.

"I see them in the corners of my eyes but when I turn they are gone!" His frustration bled into his voice, but the king was past caring. The slave nodded slowly, his gaze focused on a point much closer to him than Elhokar.

"Lie-spren." Elhokar blinked.

"What?"

"The spren with cryptic interlocking symbols are lie-spren." Elhokar tried to process this. They were real and had a name and were lie spren? "They are also called 'cryptics' or 'truth spren'." The slave had relaxed and made a shrug.

"Are they harmful?" Elhokar asked apprehensively. The slave paused. Elhokar braced himself. But the slave shook his head. "You hesitate!" He pointed out alarm. Again the slave paused shifted, stared into air and frowned before he returned his steady gaze to Elhokar.

"Lie-spren see the world from... many perspectives." The slave spoke slowly feeling out careful words. "They are not... good to their word which I don't like, but they are not harmful." Elhokar felt breath leave him in a gust and desperately wanted to sit. Lie-spen weren't malicious! Just lires . All the flickering shadows and figures of people were real and none were assassins. He wanted to cry with joy or scream that all his worries were wasted. Why had they been playing in corners teasing his vision? Why would he attract lie-spen did they know he was false and unworthy? Did they see how he failed and bluffed at being king? Why him?

The slave shifted stiffening a fierce scowl worked its way onto his storm of a face. Elhokar had said something of his thoughts aloud. In turn he tensed too. "They'd be around those with faces." The slave rumbled stiffly. Elhokar blinked at him. What? The slaves scowl deepened. "Masks, fronts. People who become other than what they were. Changers who spin lies and make truth." The scowl got ever deeper and the slave rumbled himself into an incomprehensible growling.

Elhokar stared at the man, who in turn glared at air. Spin lies to make truths? What nonsense was this, Jassnah was one for word play and riddling. "Speak straight!" He commanded his confusion lending strength to his voice.

The black eyes snapped to him and Elhokar balled his hands into tight fists. He would not flinch. The dark eyes dropped away turning to look at yet another empty patch of air. Perhaps there were more types of invisible spren? "I don't understand myself." The slave said voice soft and dry as well worn silk. "I am who I am. Other people can change that. I don't understand." He repeated. Elhokar frowned at him grasping for the slave's meaning. He turned the thought over and over, his hands slowly unclenching his gauntlets.

"Are you a slave." Elhokar half asked and got a stormy look. "No!" He corrected hastily. "I mean, do you think of yourself as a slave," Elhokar heard his own voice lighten as the point he was making clarified in his minds eye, "when you think 'who am I' do you think of slavery?"

Elhokar had been watching the stormy face and now an odd look crossed the slave's face. "I am Kaladin."He said carefully.

Elhokar frowned, it probably hadn't been the best example to use in this setting. "But you don't make what you are who you are!" Elohkar exclaimed undeterred. "As a slave, you are still Kaladin. As a solider, as a farmer, you've always been yourself!" Elhokar finished triumphantly. The dower Kaladin only stared. Elhokar felt his triumph drain away and continued. "Other people let the what have more influence." They try to be ought that they are not. Like kings. Like successes.

After a minute of glaring at him dark eyes lost some of their storm fury. "Other people are welcome to it." Elhokar felt a surge of jealousy - but it was a familiar emotion, he had already felt it towards this particular slave, it held no bite he couldn't put by.

"The Lie-spren," Elhokar began, then stopped not knowing which of the two dozen questions he needed answered first. The slave was shaking his head.

"They are capable of conversing, are very powerful, are amoung the strongest in their own realm." He pause. "I know little else about them." His face lifted to neutrality which Elhokar supposed might pass as a smile. "They're not really my kind of spren."

Elhokar found himself nodding, storms didn't change their nature. And "They leave when you are near." His voice hid most of the quaver that ran through him. He would keep the slave near too, keep the lurking figures away. He crossed the room and pulled for his steward. The brighteyed man nodded solemnly as a head ardent and guided Kaladin from the room.

As the tower of a man left he glanced back to Elhokar and spoke as if continuing a conversation, "and I was never a farmer, by the by." Elhokar felt laughter bubble in his chest. It dwindled into nought when the familiar outline of a man stepped from nothing into shadow. Lie-spren.


End file.
